54A-Gilgamesh: Did We Just Become Best Friends?

54A-Gilgamesh: Did We Just Become Best Friends?

The Epic of Gilgamesh is amazing. It is quite possibly the oldest epic we have, and though it only exists in fragments, it tells a surprisingly human story. There are questions of life and death, such as what it all means and why are we here? It delves into the issues of what it means to be a human rather than just a beast, what it means to be a good ruler, and what it means to leave a legacy. These are questions relevant even today, over 4,000 years after this story was told.

Of course, it is also folklore, so there is a troubling amount of hairy nudity.

All-in-all, this three-parter will be epic.

For the creature of the week, we'll meet a creepy forest dweller with an unexpected hobby.

There is significant talk of sex in this episode - nothing descriptive or explicit, but there is a prostitute and a pair does have sex. For six days. I basically just mention the word "sex," that's it.

3 Comments

Hi, I’m a student doing a project on the Epic of Gilgamesh for my Ancient Civilizations class. This podcast has been a great resource, but would you be able to post the transcript for the Gilgamesh episodes? I like how accessible your version is, but it would be great to be able to read along with it.

Great episodes! Thank you for making this epic so clear and easily accessible.

Do you happen to have a transcript of the Gilgamesh episodes? I would love to use them to teach the epic to my seventh-grade English class while their social studies class is studying ancient cultures.

I just wanted to stop by and thank you for introducing me to this myth. Not that I had never heard of it before, but I had never read it, nor had to study it in class. After listening to the podcast I went out and bought a copy for myself and really enjoyed it. So 10/10 would recommend.